ITV Exposé – Undercover: Our Kids In Care

The picture is grim and the story can be repeated for the elderly. One family are happily paying over £100 per day, per carer living in their parents’ luxury home on an alternating weekly basis with double time for bank holidays. The family think it represents good value for money as they can enjoy their own lives while not caring too much about Dad, other than that the bills are paid and some sort of food gets put on the table. Who cares if the house degenerates into a tip? After all , the bricks and mortar can be sold off one day and the junk that represented their parents’ home can be binned or put in a skip – just as their mother said it would before her untimely and unexpected death. Money and lusting after wealth can too often be the source of great evil and the cause of infinite misery for victims involved – whether young or old.

The programme, presented by child psychologist Professor Tanya Byron, looks at the vast amounts of money exchanging hands in these homes and tries to ascertain whether these sums are effectively used to provide children with the love and attention they should be receiving. The undercover investigation ran for a year.

An article in the Guardian offers a good summary of the programme. The piece explains that undercover reporters found serious failings, including evidence of understaffing, inadequate training, and closure of homes before Ofsted inspections were due, to avoid failing the checks.

The documentary also highlights dangerous social work practices and routine emotional and physical abuse of children inside the homes. The Guardian piece also tells us:

“Residential care does not come cheap. The filmmakers confirmed with Cambian Group that one home that employed their…